$420,000 allocated for armed guards in Newtown (video)

NEWTOWN -- The Board of Finance voted unanimously Monday night to set aside $420,000 in the contingency fund for the coming year for 4.3 armed security positions, allowing all seven of public schools to have armed police officers or the equivalent.

The Finance Board also voted 5-1 to set aside $180,000 in the Board of Selectmen's budget so the town's three private schools can apply for one-time grants to also have armed security officers.

The second motion, which would provide up to $60,000 per school, passed despite misgivings by some board members about providing public money to private schools. An initial vote to set aside $150,000 failed 3-1 with two abstentions. Four affirmative votes were needed to pass.

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Board member Carol Walsh pointed out that if the town didn't provide money to increase security at the private schools, "we're looking at the possibility of students moving over to our public schools." She said Newtown now could accommodate additional students in the lower grades, but not in the upper grades.

The private schools are St. Rose of Lima School, Housatonic Valley Waldorf School and Fraser Woods Montessori School.

Both measures now go to the town's Legislative Council. The council has final budget authority in Newtown, acting on recommendations from both the finance board and the Board of Selectmen.

The Legislative Council's Administration and Finance Committee will continue to meet on the budget over the next few weeks and must adopt a budget no later than April 10.

Both votes followed comments by parents of both public and private school kids, calling for the town to do what's necessary to ensure that there are armed officers present to protect their children in the wake of the Dec. 14 mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The $420,000 the board voted to set aside for public school armed officers covers the town's elementary schools, but actually does not include the relocated Sandy Hook School, which is now in the former Chalk Hill Middle School in neighboring Monroe at least through the end of 2013-2014.

Money to provide for continued armed officers at Sandy Hook School is in a federal grant application that Monroe is filing, First Selectwoman Patricia Llodra told the finance board.

Reed Intermediate School, Newtown Middle School and Newtown High School all already have armed police officers stationed at them.

The 4.3 positions the board voted Monday to fund includes one each for Hawley, Head O'Meadow and Middle Gate school, plus 0.3 -- about one third of a position -- to cover overtime to have an officer at Reed when Reed's existing youth officer has responsibilities elsewhere, Llodra said.

The finance board agreed to set aside money for the additional whole position so administrators at Sandy Hook School will have the option to station an additional school resource officer there, should they determine they need one in the future.

The armed positions on the town side of the budget are in addition to a dozen unarmed security positions, totaling $250,000, included in the Board of Education's budget.

Speaking during the public comment session before the board started voting, Karen Holden of Berkshire Lane in Sandy Hook said that the stark fact is that the reality in Newtown changed on Dec. 14.

"On 12/13 I would not have felt security was necessary at all in our schools," Holden said. "As a mom waiting for my son to come out on 12/14, I did not know there was an active shooter in the school. I did not know what an active shooter was."

Holden told the board she would like to know that her child is secure and "I would like that security provided by highly-trained (police) officers or former officers."

Lakeview Terrace resident John Neuhoff said the town should handle the security for the private schools just as it is doing for the public schools.

"If this were any other town in America, they wouldn't have to change, but because it's Newtown, they have to change," Neuhoff said.

School parent Michelle Assante said that in Newtown "we have a lot of folks. ... that have really suffered." The town should provide protection "for all the town's schools ... and should not make it exclusive to the public schools," she said.

"If armed officers are deemed the solution, all schools should be provided with the armed officers, not just the public schools," Assante said.